Arthur Goodfriend Papers

Collection

Identifier: MANUSCRIPT-M00006

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Arthur Goodfriend Papers were donated to the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Library by their creator in increments between 1983 and 1998. They are housed in 96 numbered boxes with a brief indication on each giving the general subject of the contents. The Papers include copies of the author’s several published books and periodical articles, his sketchbooks, notebooks and, most importantly, 51 of his illustrated, holographic journals, the first one dating from 1928.

The format of the journals was, he stated, “originally inspired by the illuminated manuscripts of medieval monks.” These volumes, extraordinary both artistically and intellectually, have been exhibited at the East West Center, the University of Hawai‘i Art Gallery, and the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Library.

The journals, handwritten in blank books of various sizes, are illustrated with the author’s drawings in various media: pencil, pen, watercolor, felt pen, crayon. Many of his illustrations are colorful and amusing character sketches. The numerous drawings display a remarkable diversity, not only of graphic media, but also of imagination, composition, and use of color. The pages are filled increasingly with photographs, tickets, menus, and other printed materials applied to create collages.

Also included in the boxes are books, published articles, separate letters and photographs, slides, awards, and other items, many contained in folders or envelopes of various sizes as indicated in the inventory. The individual selections are identified (with the respective box housing each one) in the General Index that follows the Inventory.

Goodfriend’s published writings importantly complement and sometimes replicate the text of his journals. His great facility with written English and his experience in the craft of journalism enabled him to write rapidly. He was exceedingly prolific. Although he diligently maintained his journals, he appeared casual about keeping copies of all of his published writings, especially his shorter newspaper and journal articles. (As many as possible of these have been identified and listed herein.) His advertising and glib promotional work in men’s fashion were seminal. Writing skills perfected in this formative period were applied in all his later work.

Note: In the last year of Goodfriend’s life—summer of 1997—a group of students in the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Library and Information Science Program used the Goodfriend Papers as a source of inspiration for a class project in planning and producing a CD-ROM.

Following this, one of this group, Shari Tamashiro, received a grant from the Hawai‘i Committee for the Humanities for The Arthur Goodfriend Documentation Project. The project focused on Goodfriend’s World War II experience and consisted of an oral history recorded by Shari Tamashiro and Jasin Yamashita and partially transcribed, as well as transcriptions from his war journals and the introductory chapter from his unpublished autobiography, “Scrap-Book.”

Dates

Creation: Majority of material found within 1928 - 2000

Creator

Goodfriend, Arthur, 1907-1998 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Some fragile items may need to be handled by the staff only. Use of audiovisual material may require the production of listening or viewing copies.

Literary Rights Notice

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the University of Hawaii Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must be obtained by the user.

Biographical / Historical

Writer, journalist, artist, educator, and often contrarian, Arthur Goodfriend was born in New York City in 1907. At an early age, when his parents became aware of his innate drawing talent, he was enrolled, the youngest entrant, in the National Academy of Design. He was soon expelled after being caught peeking into the life drawing studio. Many years later, after various misadventures, among them arrest in Moscow for using his camera in Red Square, and being fined in Peking for pulling a rickshaw through the streets, he remarked on ”the strange proclivity I had for getting into trouble.” Although his only formal training in art occurred at age 78 in a life-drawing class at the University of Hawai‘i, sketching scenes everywhere around him became a constant activity.

His career was varied, and included editorship of the U. S. Army newspaper, Stars and Stripes, appointments with the U.S. Foreign Service (in China, Indonesia, India and Africa) and the United States Information Service, and from 1970 to 1973, administrative service with the experimental University of Hawai‘i program, New College. He served as a volunteer with the Peace Corps in the Philippines and (at age eighty five, the oldest Peace Corps volunteer) in Hungary. He also assisted with the People to People Health Fund (Project HOPE), with homeless people, and with the Alzheimer’s Disease Association.

In 1928 Goodfriend received the Bachelor of Science degree from the College of the City of New York. During the 1978-79 semester he studied at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, about which he stated, “More involved in research than course work, I sought and earned no credits.” He resumed formal academic work in 1986 at the age of eighty when he was accepted as a doctoral candidate in education at the University of Hawai‘i. He graduated in 1988, having produced a remarkable dissertation, in essence, an autobiography and a summing up of his views on international education systems. The dissertation has since been published by the University of Hawai‘i Press. His education was a lifelong pursuit.

Throughout his career, one of Goodfriend’s primary concerns was getting across a message, be it through his writing or his art. It pleased him when his message was sometimes controversial.

Goodfriend married Edith (Eadie) Del Mar in 1950, adopting her daughter, Jill. They had two sons, Arthur II and Bret Meredith. He died in Honolulu, June 1, 1998.

To close his entry in the 1988-89 Who’s who in America, he chose these words: "I live my life as though it were a book, each chapter dealing with separate and significant experiences, partly accidental but mainly so contrived that at the end it may be written: Little of life’s feast remained untasted."

Extent

49 Linear Feet (13 document boxes, 72 half-size document boxes, 11 flat boxes, 7 large boxes (approximately 28 x 24 x 10 inches), 1 framed photograph)

Language

English

Additional Description

Overview

In his lifetime, Dr. Arthur Goodfriend (1907-1998) played many different roles: artist, author, soldier, journalist, diplomat, academic and educator. He was a meticulous recorder of his own life, and from the age of 21 he faithfully created illustrated, holographic journals which captured his experiences and recorded his thoughts over his 90 years of experiences and adventures. Approximately 35 journals, an oral history, and the scrapbook of an autobiography are included in this collection.

Arthur Goodfriend was both an observer and participant in a significant number of critical periods in history. His journals contain first-hand accounting of these events and are accompanied by original illustrations. His was an incredible journey that spanned 90 years, with all of his personal "scraps" meticulously recorded in roughly 35 journals. These illustrated journals are a unique and invaluable record of the 20th century. Such conscientious and thorough documentation is extremely rare in this day and age, especially of such a remarkably interesting and reflective life.

All of Goodriend's journals, publications, papers, and supporting materials are housed in the University of Hawai'i at Manoa Library.

Other Finding Aids

See Z:\Collections\Manuscripts\FINDING AIDS - Manuscript Collections\Goodfriend Finding Aid.pdf for the finding aid prepared by Richard Perrine.

This document contains several useful indexes: Index of Goodfriend Family Members, General Index (People, Places, Things), and List of Journals (with box number references).

Processing Information

Inventory and finding aid prepared by Richard H. Perrine in July 2000 and revised by Katherine Fisher (intern) in 2017. Some box-level scope and contents notes contain descriptions based on Goodfriend's own writings; descriptions in quotation marks are, according to Perrine, based on Goodfriend's autobiographical notes in his dissertation, although it is not clear whether these quotes are direct or adapted by Perrine.

Perrine wrote the following preface explaining his involvement with the collection and his approach to processing:

"The pages that follow came into existence as a result of a funeral not attended. Arthur Goodfriend died two days before the compiler-to-be left on a trip to Spain, regretting that the final honors of an admired friend would be missed. Diversions in Spain failed to dispel the regret, and the return to Honolulu brought on the idea to do something constructive in Arthur’s memory.

"Possibilities were explored with Bron Solyom at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Library who had worked closely with Arthur in his efforts to have his autobiographical “Scrap-Book” published. The materials he had accumulated and placed in the Library presented a challenge. They could illuminate an interesting life if they were effectively made known. But they were abundant and various, some significant and others of dubious usefulness. Compilation of a finding aid was begun in September 1998.

"Goodfriend’s own voluminous written observations in his journals, important though sometimes illegible, were not subject to indexing or content analysis for the finding aid. However, his writings and sketches are supplemented by pasted-in items, some potentially useful letters, newspaper articles and photographs, others trivial mementos such as restaurant menus, theater tickets, etc. It became clear that significant items throughout the manuscript boxes should be identified with an indication where each could be found. Therefore, the finding aid identifies selected items included in the journals.

"The decision to include an item was based on the supposition that it could be of interest to a biographer, to a member of Goodfriend’s family, or to a researcher who could benefit from it.

"The project couldn’t have been carried out without the assistance and guidance of the following: James Cartwright, University Archivist; Nancy Morris, Head of Special Collections; and Bron Solyom, Library Development Officer; nor without the support of the staff of Special Collections, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Library."

In 2017, while converting the legacy finding aid, the arrangement of the collection was revised to more accurately reflect the nature of the materials and to incorporate unprocessed additions: 1) Series 1 boxes numbered 82 and up (1-81 were collected and named by Goodfriend; the others were presumably incorporated into the series later, perhaps by Perrine) were separated from the series and added to related materials to create series 4 (Autobiography), containing various versions of "Scrap-Book." 2) Documents and tapes related to Goodfriend's oral history and the grant-funded Arthur Goodfriend Documentation Project were gathered from unlabeled boxes and files and became series 5 (Oral History). One exception is an oral-history-related folder that remains in box 82 of series 1; these documents appear to have been collected and saved by Goodfriend himself, whereas those in series 5 were generated by the interviewers and project creators. 3) All other materials that were found unprocessed in 2017 or of unknown provenance form series 6 (Misc. Later Additions). Series 4-6 have not been fully processed and are described only at box level.